Geist 2 pattern export.. Bug or User error?

[mysiak]

I originally posted this in the tumbleweed strewn FXpansion forum, but I hope it will be seen by a few more people here.. I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I've just bought Geist2, hoping it could do what I wanted Arturia Spark to be able to do, namely sequence a pattern with the internal sequencer then export the pattern to my DAW midi track and have all the programmed pad automation (eg. pitch, reverse etc) to play back as cc events. All looks good when I drag the pattern over.. The Geist midi map has automatically assigned cc channels to all the modulated parameters and midi cc data looks like it has been exported with the notes (although a few lanes look suspiciously empty), but it just doesn't play back correctly. Firstly it looks like it's only receiving any midi data at all for a couple of parameters, and the timing is well off for those (ie pitch modulation will affect the wrong notes). At first I thought it may be a problem using Reason 11, but I have the exactly the same problem in Ableton and Bitwig. Surely I must be doing something wrong and a major feature like this can't be broken? I haven't come across this discussed online, so can any users on here confirm this function is working for them and maybe suggest where I'm going wrong?

[sl1914]

Don't know if that works or not, BUT If you cannot get it working like you want do you have to export those patterns to your DAW? Why not let Geist2 play those patterns if they play like you want "in geist"? Are you familiar with Geist2's song mode? With that you can specify which patterns are played during an entire song.

[mysiak]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah that’s how I’m doing it at the moment. I just wondered if anyone had managed to get it to work the way it’s ‘supposed’ to and whether it was a general bug or a problem with my system

[Dasheesh]

i have used geist 1 and 2, i missed the guru train, and i use it to export midi sequences to my daw (reaper), but i have never even noticed or thought it could export all the "extras" besides note and velocity. i would imagine the midi controller numbers are all scrambled because these are mpe instruments. i will have a play around when i get a minute and see what i find.

[mysiak]

Thanks for the reply. I’d be interested in how it works for you. Cheers

[Dasheesh]

i just did a test run and I'm getting mixed results depending on what instrument i use the midi pattern on. seems to work better on synths than other drum machines. I don't think all parameter modulations will be transported, because some are specific to Geist itself. I'm using reaper btw.

[Ohlson_M]

I remember doing some extensive testing in Ableton and never got it to work. A shame since this would make the plugin much more useful to my needs.

It appears that most parameters are truly locked, except basic parameters such as velocity. Although not ideal, playing the patterns directly from Geist via Songmode is an alternative.

[thermal]

I never use song mode, always export the midi. Don’t think I’ve ever experienced a pattern being played back differently compared to using the internal Geist sequencer. That said, I typically only automate (in Geist) basic stuff like velocity, pitch, pan and filter cutoff. This is with Logic as host btw.

[mysiak]

Ok that's interesting that it worked for you. I only want to automate basic functions like per-voice pitch myself. I don't have Logic to test it on unfortunately. Further testing has shown that while Geist automatically assigns controller channels to all automated parameters, and creates controller lanes when the pattern is dragged to DAW, most of them don't actually contain any info. Writing data into those lanes doesn't do anything either. I can manually assign 'host cc' channels to individual voice parameters by right clicking when in midi learn mode, and it will respond to data sent on those channels ok, but they have to be drawn in the DAW. When dragging a pattern with automation programmed in the Geist sequencer to DAW it insists on re-allocating the data to 'ghost' cc channels that don't appear in DAW. I've just about given up trying to get it to work now, but frustrated that it seemed to work for you in Logic.